1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a glass substrate processing device, more specifically, to a glass substrate processing device configured to process a glass substrate by laser beam irradiation.
2. Background Information
Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-2007-118054 describes a well-known glass substrate processing device using a laser beam. The processing device is configured to irradiate a green laser beam having a wavelength of roughly 532 nm onto a work such as a glass substrate. In general, a green laser beam penetrates the glass substrate. However, the laser beam is absorbed by the glass substrate under a condition that the laser beam is concentrated and intensity thereof exceeds a predetermined threshold. Under the condition, plasma is generated in a portion of the glass substrate where the laser beam is concentrated. This results in evaporation of the glass substrate. Based on the aforementioned principle, various types of processing can be executed, including forming a hole in the glass substrate.
On the other hand, Japan Laid-open Patent Application Publication No. JP-A-H08-192286 describes a laser processing device configured to rotate a laser beam on the surface of a work in a predetermined trajectory (e.g., a circular trajectory and an oval trajectory) and scan the work with a laser beam in a predetermined direction (e.g., a transverse direction, a vertical direction, and an oblique direction).
In forming a hole in a glass substrate, for instance, the aforementioned processing device using a laser beam is configured to scan the circumference of a prospective hole (i.e., a processing line) with a laser beam for cutting and dropping an area enclosed by the processing line. In this case, the processing is easily done with the mechanism described in JP-A-H08-192286 configured to spirally rotate a laser beam.
However, a long processing time is required for the well-known method of processing a glass substrate using a laser beam. Therefore, reduction in the processing time has been demanded.
In view of the above, the present invention addresses a need for producing a glass substrate processing device for achieving reduction in time of processing a glass substrate using a laser beam. This invention addresses this need in the art as well as other needs, which will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this disclosure.